Pine Swamp

The picture is of my parents, Oscar and Clara Wyatt, stacking hay on our farm to feed the cows in the winter.

In the 1950s we did what we had to make a living in the Pine Swamp community of Alleghany County. Daddy "pitched up" the hay, Mother "tromped" the stack, and we girls got the hay in little piles on the ground for Daddy. The work was hot and hard, so we were always ready for the picnic lunch Mother brought to the field with her. Nothing is better than cold milk kept in a nearby spring and bread and fresh garden vegetables when eaten under a shade tree. We also had really good cake or pie from fruits we had helped Mother gather.

Our neighbor Bert Holloway frequently came by and took pictures like this one. He would have them developed then give them to us. Without him we would not have the pictures of our youth that we have.